Operation Stream Line Morning

Mornings. Blech.

Monday mornings? Double blech.

Sunday mornings? Triple blech.

Why do Saturday mornings even have to exist? It's not like Mark has to get to work (usually) or Christopher has to get to school. Blech. Blech. Blech. Blech.

I am NOT a fan of mornings. Yet, they roll around, every... single... morning. 

When Christopher first started going off to school, I had grand plans for mornings. They involved art time, detox baths + quiet time, exercising, capped off with a full supplement and juicing routine before I got Christopher to school.

That lasted about a week.

Now I count it a good morning if I don't have to go to the school twice (once to drop Christopher off, once to drop of his backpack, and should have gone a third time to take his homework I had taken out to check and left on the table).

Just like I wrote a few days ago about setting evenings up to help promote a good night sleep, I am attempting to streamline my mornings so I can enjoy as much as that good night sleep as possible while still getting the early-mid morning priorities. I am far from in danger of getting too much sleep.

I would love early-mid mornings that involve exercise and quiet times, but it frankly ain't happening. So, what NEEDS to happen?

Christopher needs to get to school, with his homework packed, his breakfast and lunch packed and him dressed. The girls and I need to get dressed and eat breakfast (usually after we take Christopher to school as he eats breakfast there). Mark needs to get to work with breakfast and lunch packed.

Ideally we would also take our supplements (probiotics and fish oil for the kids, and too many to list for me) before heading off for school. Right now it isn't happening, but is important especially for Natalia and me. I don't want lack of probiotics to undo any of the progress she had made in gut health!

I already pack breakfasts and lunches for Mark and Christopher the night before, so that takes care of those two necessities.

That leaves "early"-mid-morning duties to getting dressed, supplements, and breakfast for the girls and me. Honestly, it isn't much but most mornings I am in pain due to poor digestion for the first hour or two. So, it feels like a lot and I need to streamline as much as possible.


Ways I Plan To Streamline Mornings:

Lay out clothes. The process of getting dressed is huge, but in the evening when my brain is working, I am not in pain, and kids aren't screaming, I can set clothes out and they are ready to put on. Now, if only I can teach the shoes to stay put overnight so they will be there when we wake up. Those things have it out for me.

Prep breakfast foods ahead of time. We are mostly eating sweet potatoes (baked ahead of time, and eaten cold or reheated), or a quick to cook vegetable + breakfast meat + smoothie right now. I made smoothie packs to help make them easier, and froze 6 lbs of sausage patties (there aren't store bought ones we can all have). I plan on trying to prepping other breakfast proteins ahead of time, to try and get more variety. I am also a huge fan of overnight and make ahead breakfasts.

Pack breakfasts and lunches ahead of time, for those going to school and work and for the girls and me on Thursday (library) and sometimes on Friday (grocery shopping). I am already doing this mostly, but don't always pack breakfast for the girls and I when it would be very helpful.

Supplements... not sure how to streamline them. It thought about divvying them up but that just seams like a way to streamline Valerie eating them all. Maybe I can put a reminder in my phone to remind myself to actually give them to the kids and myself.

Try and figure out a way to wake up with less stomach pain, or at least figure out a way to shorten it's visit. Not sure what that looks like yet, but hopefully I can! It starts with me trying to be better about actually taking my digestion aids.

Now just to figure out how to do all those things I wish I was doing in the morning.